Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) says President Joe Biden does not need to pass legislation through Congress to end the “historic invasion” at the United States-Mexico border.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Vance spoke to oppose an immigration bill backed by Biden to increase legal immigration levels while allowing tens of thousands of border encounters every month before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could enforce strict border controls.
The legislation, Vance and other Senate Republicans said, is unnecessary.
“The executive has broad discretion to enforce our border laws. Now, we have to remember that three and a half years ago, Joe Biden came into the Oval Office, and what were they doing? They were bragging about undoing the previous administration’s border policies,” Vance said:
They were bragging about expanding ‘catch and release.’ They were bragging about ending Remain in Mexico. They were bragging about changing the asylum enforcement laws in this country. [Emphasis added]
Every single one of us said what you’re going to get is a crisis at the southern border, and after three and a half years of them bragging about a policy change and then seeing the predictable results, we now have a historic crisis, I would say historic invasion, at our southern border. [Emphasis added]
Vance said Biden “opened the southern border, Joe Biden can close the southern border, and it’s really that simple” and that the legislation would prevent “a future administration from solving the problem in the future.”
“It is the worst possible combination of immigration policy, and that’s why we’re going to keep on fighting,” Vance said. “You have to ask yourselves, after bragging about opening our southern border, why do Democrats care about this issue? Is it because they haven’t seen the wreckage and the carnage of the last two years? No. It’s because they’ve seen the polls, and they know what’s coming.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) similarly called the legislation “an election-year political stunt designed to give our Democratic colleagues the appearance of doing something about this problem without doing anything.”
“We are a nation of law and order, and yet the Biden administration has allowed over 10 million illegal immigrants to flood our border,” Blackburn continued:
That’s higher than the populations of seven major U.S. cities — Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville — combined. Under this administration, every town is a border town.
[Emphasis added]
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) said Biden and Senate Democrats ought to throw their support behind House-approved H.R. 2 — the Secure the Border Act — which would:
- Requires DHS to complete a southern border wall
- Prohibits funding to non-governmental organizations facilitating illegal immigration
- Requires DHS to collect biometric data on all migrants apprehended
- Raises the “credible fear” standard at the southern border
- Prohibits asylum for convicts and gang members
- Requires DHS to detain and deport illegal aliens
- Reinstates the Remain in Mexico policy
- Mandates nationwide E-Verify to prevent employers from hiring illegal aliens
- Strictly limits parole to prevent mass release of migrants into the U.S. interior
“H.R. 2 is a great solution,” Marshall said. “It was offered on the floor last night for unanimous consent. We just asked for unanimous consent to take up the bill. Senator Cruz and I led that last night but they’re not even willing to take it up.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.